Bamboo Airways is intending to buy 60 General Electric (GE) engines and related services in 2020 with a total value of US$2 billion. — Photo bambooairways.com

Bamboo Airways has set a target of doubling its domestic air routes to 60 by the end of 2020, and raising the number of international routes from six to 25, with that to the US expected to be re-launched in late 2021 or early 2022.

The carrier’s Chairman Trinh Van Quyet made the statement on Tuesday, given the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has been basically controlled in Viet Nam.

To serve the plan, the airline is intending to buy 60 General Electric (GE) engines and related services in 2020 with a total value of US$2 billion to serve the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner fleet it is ordering.

It will hire more planes this year, instead of purchasing more, to facilitate the expansion plan, Quyet stated.

Bamboo Airways, he went on, is operating 45-50 domestic flights a day, and is scheduled to raise the number to over 100 in early June, or equal to 80 per cent of the frequency before the COVID-19 happened.

The airline is expected to go public on the stock market in the fourth quarter of 2020 after the initial plan of being listed in the second quarter was postponed due to the pandemic.

In the first quarter, it posted a loss of over VND1.5 trillion (US$64.2 million) due to a remarkable reduction of both domestic and international flights. — VNS

While people around the planet continue to grapple with the pandemic, there’s also a call to pause and reflect on another cause – Time for Nature, the theme of the UN’s World Environment Day on 5 June.